Oiks

I know a most pushy vegan, loathed and loved. He has great compassion within a rough, take-no-prisoners nature. I know the most ineffectual vegans who are really nice people but aren’t identifiable-with.
In the end it comes down to being able to identify with another … and, with fellow humans, that comes down to resonating with what a person says. And that rests with the person themselves - are they genuine in what they say? It may take years to be sure of this. In this case, is the vegan we know actually true to what she says. But even if we’re sure about her sincerity, are we that interested?
So vegans have got to be true, obviously, but they need to spark something in others. Must we impress them? Yes, but it’s the subject and all that it ignites (or doesn’t!) that’s important here. We aren’t in a wanna-be-liked competition, vegans just need to inspire interest, empathy, compassion, with and for the poor creatures presently languishing in their prison cells. Must we inspire their interest? Yes, and without alienating them. We don’t want them to ‘close the book, never to be opened again’.
We’re more likely to get omnivores interested (er, I mean inspired!) in what we have to say about animal issues, if we can show how significant it is and how it pertains to today’s Whole Global Problems which haunt every single aware-ised adult on the planet.
So, how to interest the as-yet-uninterested? What is the universal ‘touching point’ to which all people can relate? And here we come to the Universal Human, that human who is conscious of the significance of humanity.
That unusual family down the road, the Universals, they see a glorious future for the race, a future which comes about after we wipe the egg from our face and start again … but ughh!! … ‘start-again’ sounds awful. Ugh, no.
“Food? What? Me change my breakfast routines, ugh, sandwiches made of what? Ugh! Dinner is how? … And what is it you wear on your feet … to be in fashion with other dudes?” …“Me start again? And take up what?” … “Ya gotta be jokin” … Food. Oh hell, and shoes too!!”
… and yet
There are travellers through these regions. They’ve come out of the wild lands and seem unharmed, vegan for ten years. Everyone looks at them for signs of collapse. Since all they eat are lettuce leaves, these vegans are surely about to collapse, perhaps most of them have died off already. Thank God!
Vegans, fellow travellers, do have enough to spark curiosity. Within veganism there’s a clue to the future, and that’s the ultimate attraction. With that in mind even fashion is downgraded, even favourite ice creams and chocs can go. We can do extraordinary things (with both food and shoes) to show we take ourselves seriously. Seriously enough to eat an unusual diet and wear basic footwear, seriously enough to be sure what we say isn’t bunkum.
Vegans must be sure of their information because it is so different to the standard stuff coming out of the Science, Education and Propaganda Departments. It is, after all, a whole other way of seeing things, a way of seeing ahead to a ‘glorious future’. For this we need something well delivered - if we take a little trouble with our presentation (showing ‘them’ we’re not oiks, just out for a cheap shot) we’ll be seen as ‘a possibility’. That would be brilliant. That would be all. That would be a start to getting people to respond to us differently.